The present application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. xc2xa7119 to Japanese Patent Application No. 2000-241603, filed on Aug. 9, 2000, entitled xe2x80x9cEXTERNAL WALL CONSTRUCTION, SEALING FIXTURE, EXTERNAL WALL PANEL, AND EXTERNAL WALL CONSTRUCTING METHODxe2x80x9d. The contents of this application are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an external wall construction for mounting an external wall panel on an underlayment using a securing metal fitting and further relates to a sealing fixture, an external wall panel, and an external wall constructing method used for the external wall construction.
2. Discussion of the Background
Conventionally, there has been known an external wall construction: wherein a securing metal fitting is engagingly locked to an upper underlying tongue portion formed at an upper side portion of an external wall panel disposed in a lower position and a lower overlying tongue portion formed at a lower side portion of an external wall panel disposed in a higher position, and vertical aligned external wall panels are fixed to an underlayment. In the external wall construction, an external wall panel having a four side (left, right, upper and lower sides) shiplap structure or a left-and-right side shiplap structure is used from the viewpoints of appearance design properties or constructing properties or the like.
For example, an external wall construction 9 using an external wall panel 92 having the four side shiplap structure shown in FIG. 19 is shown in FIG. 20. In FIG. 20, a front side surface of the external wall panel 92 arranged at an upper right position is indicated by a double-dot chain line.
As shown in FIG. 19, the external wall panel 92 has an upper underlying tongue portion 922, a lower overlying tongue portion 921, and a lateral underlying tongue portion 924 and a lateral overlying tongue portion 923 that are provided at a right side portion and at a left side portion, respectively. As shown in FIG. 20, during constructing, the lower overlying tongue portion 921 of the upper external wall panel 92 is superposed on the upper underlying tongue portion 922 of the lower external wall panel 92, and the lateral overlying tongue portion 923 of the right external wall panel 92 is superposed on a lateral underlying tongue portion 924 of the left exterior wall panel 92.
In addition, as shown in FIG. 19, a caulking material 929 is attached on the upper underlying tongue portion 922 and lateral underlying tongue portion 924 of the external wall panel 92. Over this caulking material 929, as shown in FIG. 20, the rear surfaces of the lower overlying tongue portion 921 and lateral overlying tongue portion 923 of another external wall panel 92 are pressed, thereby preventing water penetration into the external wall construction 9 from the joint clearance portion 927 of each external wall panel 92.
In addition, in the external wall construction 9 with a four side shiplap, as shown in FIG. 20, the caulking material 929 is covered with the lower overlying tongue portion 921 and the lateral overlying tongue portion 923, and is not exposed in front of the exterior wall. Therefore, an external wall construction with an excellent appearance design properties can be obtained.
In addition, in the external wall construction 9, a securing metal fitting 5 (refer to FIG. 5) is installed at an upper underlying tongue portion 922 and a lower overlying tongue portion 921 of the external wall panel 92, and each of the external wall panels 92 is fixed to an underlayment 3 such as a furring strip (refer to FIG. 6). That is, a lower panel engaging portion 54 of the securing metal fitting 5 is engagingly locked with the upper underlying tongue portion 922 of the lower exterior wall panel 92, the upper external wall panel 92 is supported by means of a support portion 52, and the upper panel engaging portion 53 is engagingly locked with the lower overlying tongue portion 921 of the upper external wall panel 92.
In addition, there is a problem that, although the caulking material 929 is attached on the external wall construction 9, rainwater 6 or the like may penetrate into the construction.
As shown in FIG. 20, the rainwater 6 penetrating into the joint clearance portion 927 is inhibited from moving in a transverse direction (to the right side in FIG. 20) by means of the caulking material 929, and drops downwardly through the joint clearance portion 927. Then, the rainwater 6 drops further through the joint clearance portion 927 of the external wall panel 92 that is disposed downwardly.
However, the caulking material 929 applied to the lateral underlying tongue portion 924 of the external wall panel 92 is discontinuous at a rear surface joint clearance portion 928 between the upper and lower external wall panels 92. Therefore, when the rainwater 6 dropping through the joint clearance portion 927 reaches the rear surface joint clearance portion 928 of the upper and lower external wall panel 92, a part of the rainwater 6 may penetrate into the external wall construction 9.
In addition, as shown in FIG. 21, in the case where the securing metal fitting 5 is arranged at the corner of the external wall panel 92, the rainwater 6 dropping through the joint clearance portion 927 passes through a front face of a front flat plate 57 of the securing metal fitting 5, and moves further to the joint clearance portion 927 that is disposed downwardly.
However, as shown in FIG. 21, there is apprehension that a part of the rainwater 6 flows transversely through the front face of the front flat plate 57, drops from a side end 59 to the upper underlying tongue portion 922 of the lower external wall panel 92, and further, penetrates into the rear side of the external wall panel 92.
In addition, a part of the rainwater 6 moving transversely through the front flat plate 57 travels over the upper panel engaging portion 53, moves onto the support portion 52, and further, moves to the left and right side ends 59. Then, this rainwater 6 also penetrates from the side end 59 of the securing metal fitting 5 to the rear side of the external wall panel 92.
In this manner, the external wall panel 92 or underlayment 3 may be corroded or degraded.
The rainwater 6 penetrating from the joint clearance portion 926 between the upper and lower external wall panels 2 is inhibited from upward moving by the caulking material 929 in a transverse direction attached on the upper underlying tongue portion 922, and is discharged forwardly as is (FIG. 21).
An object of the present invention is to provide an external wall construction capable of inhibiting water penetration into the external wall construction reliably; and a sealing fixture, an external wall panel, and an external wall constructing method, which are used for the external wall construction.
According to one aspect of the present invention, an external wall construction includes a securing metal fitting installed at the upper side portion and the lower side portion of an external wall panel, and the external wall panel mounted on an underlayment, wherein:
the external wall panel includes a notched recess formed on a left side portion and a right side portion along the vertical direction;
a sealing fixture is arranged between the adjacent left and right external wall panels;
the sealing fixture has a base plate portion fixed to the underlayment, a rising plate portion erected at the base plate portion, and a front plate portion arranged at the rising plate portion, wherein a front resilient material is provided at the front face of the front plate portion; and,
the front resilient material and a front plate portion are engaged into the notched recess of the external wall panel.
In the external wall construction, the front plate portion and front resilient material of the sealing fixture arranged between the two adjacent external wall panels are engaged into both of the notched recesss of the two external wall panels. Thus, the front resilient material comes into closely contact with both of the front inner surfaces of the notched recesss of the two external wall panels.
Thus, the joint clearance portion at the surface sides of the left and right external wall panels is sealed from the rear side. Therefore, no rainwater penetrates from the joint clearance portion into the external wall construction such as back surface of the external wall panel or an underlayment.
In this way, with the external wall construction, the rainwater can be reliably prevented from penetrating into the external wall construction, and the external wall panel, the underlayment and the like can be reliably prevented from being corroded or degraded.
In particular, the sealing fixture is continuously arranged over the vertical direction of the external wall construction, whereby rainwater penetration can be prevented more reliably without providing a room for such rainwater penetration.
The sealing fixture can be in a state that the base plate portion is fixed to the underlayment, and the rising plate portion abuts against the side face which is close to the back surface in comparison with the notched recess in the external wall panel. Thus, the displacement in the transverse direction of the external wall panel can be prevented.
As described according to the present invention, there can be provided an external wall construction capable of preventing water penetration into the external wall construction reliably.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a sealing fixture used for an external wall construction in which an external wall panel having a notched recess formed on a left side portion and a right side portion along the vertical direction is fixed to the underlayment by installing the securing metal fitting on an upper side portion and a lower side portion of the external wall panel and arranged between the adjacent left and right external wall panels, wherein:
the sealing fixture has a base plate portion fixed to the underlayment, a rising plate portion erected at the base plate portion, and a front plate portion arranged at the rising plate portion, wherein a front resilient material is provided at the front face of the front plate portion; and,
the front resilient material and the front plate portion are formed to be engaged into the notched recesss of the external wall panel (refer to FIG. 4).
When the external wall panel is constructed on the underlayment by using the sealing fixture, the front resilient material is engaged into the notched recesss in the adjacent two external wall panels. Thus, the front resilient material comes into closely contact with the front inner surface of the notched recesss at the two external wall panels.
In this way, as described, at the joint clearance portion of the left and right external wall panels are sealed from the rear side, the rainwater can be reliably prevented from penetrating into the external wall construction. Thus, the external wall panel, the underlayment and the like can be reliably prevented from being corroded or degraded.
In the sealing fixture, the base plate portion can be fixed to the underlayment and the rising plate portion can be abutted against the side face of the lateral underlying tongue portion of the external wall panel. Thus, the displacement in the lateral direction of the external wall panel can be prevented.
As described, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide the sealing fixture capable of preventing water penetration into the external wall construction reliably.
According to another aspect of the present invention, an external wall panel used for the external wall construction includes a notched recess formed at a left side portion and a right side portion along the vertical direction, wherein the notched recess is formed so that a front resilient material and a front plate portion of the sealing fixture are engaged into the notched recess.
In this manner, a part of the front resilient material of the sealing fixture is engaged into the notched recesss, whereby the joint clearance portion of the external wall panel can be sealed from the back surface. That is, the joint clearance portion can be sealed by contacting the front resilient material to the frontward inner face of the notched recess closely.
Thus, by using the external wall panel, water penetration into the external wall construction can be reliably prevented.
According to the other aspect of the present invention, a method for constructing an external wall construction is as follows.
That is, an external wall constructing method for constructing the external wall construction includes:
a first step of installing a securing metal fitting at an upper side portion and a lower side portion of an external wall panel, and installing an external wall panel of a first column on an underlayment;
a second step of installing the sealing fixture on the underlayment at the left side portion or the right side portion of the external wall panel of the first column; and
a third step of disposing an external wall panel of the second column to the underlayment so that the sealing fixture is sandwiched between the external wall panel of the first column and the external wall panel of the second column, wherein a securing metal fitting is installed at the upper side portion and the lower side portion of the external wall panel of the second column; wherein:
in the second step the front resilient material and a front plate portion of the sealing fixture is engaged into the notched recess of the external wall panel; and,
in the third step the front plate portion and the front resilient material of the sealing fixture is engaged into the notched recess of the external wall panel of the second column.
In this case, the front plate portion and the front resilient material can be easily engaged into the notched recess of the external wall panel. In addition, after constructing, the front resilient material is in a compressed state gradually expands, and extends sufficiently into a space of the notched recess of the external wall panel. In this way, the front resilient material presses and seals the joint clearance portion of the left and right external wall panels from the rear side, thereby it is possible to prevent rainwater penetration reliably.
Therefore, according to the present external wall constructing method, there can be provided an external wall construction for preventing water penetration into the construction in a easily and reliably way.
In addition, at the second step, the sealing fixture can be installed in a state that the rising plate portion is abutted against the side face which is close to the back surface in comparison with the notched recess at the external wall panel of the first column. Thus, the lateral alignment of the sealing fixture can be easily performed.